Several relatives of Qandeel Baloch have left their homes fearing arrest.
Police teams have been visiting Baloch’s home in Shah Saddar Din. Police have taken her sisters-in-law into custody following the arrest of Wasim, his brother.
Talking to The South Punjab News, her brother-in-law Altaf Khan said that they were being harassed. “The family was in mourning, but police officers visited the house daily and questioned the family members one after the other. We were scared.
So we decided to return to our home in Taunsa. I have been unable to contact my father-in-law for some days. His cell phone is switched off,” Khan said.
Talking to The South Punjab News , a police official, privy to the investigation, said that the police were now looking for Wasim’s accomplices. “We believe that several of his friends and relatives were also involved in the murder. We are also looking for his relatives Haq Nawaz, Aslam and several others for inciting him. Apparently a taxi driver, Basit, was also part of the conspiracy,” he said. The official said that police teams were conducting raids to arrest the suspects.
Several families related to the deceased have left the village for other areas fearing arrest.On Wednesday, Amnesty International welcomed the decision of Punjab authorities to register Qandeel Baloch’s murder as a crime against the state, and refuse her family the legal right to grant their son clemency.
After Qandeel’s death her father, Muhammad Azeem, had filed a police report against his sons.
In an interview with the BBC, the social media starlet’s parents spoke about their daughter’s murder and their relationship with her prior to her death.
“I say he should be shot on sight. He suffocated my little one,” Baloch’s father Muhammad Azeem said, referring to his son Waseem who killed Qandeel. “We were drugged, asleep upstairs. She must have called out to us,” her father revealed.
Azeem described Qandeel as his “best friend,” but claimed that his son Waseem had been “crazed.”
Her mother said the 26-year-old used to share all her secrets with her.
“We were mother and daughter, sharing all our sorrows and secrets. She used to tell me ‘Your daughter is working hard, she’ll go far’,” she said.
Recalling the night of the murder, Qandeel’s mother said she and Azeem were also drugged the night of the murder. “My husband and I fell deep asleep. We had drunk milk, it had been laced with sedatives,” she said.
“In the morning, I called Qandeel for breakfast… but she didn’t get up.”
Her mother, describing Qandeel’s corpse, said, “Her whole face was covered in bruises, her tongue was black, her lips were black.”
